Look Beyond What You See

Wedding Guests

 Sweet, alluring notes float out of my beloved piano under my skilled fingers. I know I haven't much time before someone interrupts me and orders me back to practising with magic. A harried meeting with Malina earlier reminded me that we have a mere two days until the wedding, and most of the time since our schemes regarding the wedding (and, I hope, the defeat of Xenia de Poitiers) were hatched has been spent in training. Two-hour breaks here and there provide, to some extent, for my needs for sleep and nourishment, and because of this insane schedule my sense of time has been completely thrown off. I must rely on Malina to know the date, and I cannot for the life of me determine what time of day it is currently, though I believe, based on the light that comes in my windows with the light breeze that stirs the curtains, it is at least daylight.

I play more softly than usual, hoping against my better judgment that no one will hear me and interrupt. It is terribly difficult to be sneaky with a musical instrument, but I know that servants have been instructed to guard the stables and the exits of the mansion so that I cannot escape to the outdoors. To my knowledge no one guards the roof, but I prefer to go there at night, whenever possible. These guards are meant to ensure that I train with magic as much as possible, but I am so weary of training and so eager for any other means of occupying myself that I simply had to devise some form of escape. It must be said, however, that my abilities have been greatly increased by this intensive practise. I have begun to be able to use ice as well as water, and with the ice I can manipulate light by reflecting it, refracting it, and otherwise redirecting it. Dmitri's father is most pleased by this progress. I only hope that it will be enough to fill its intended purpose against our dark adversary.

"Would that you could play for our wedding," Dmitri's voice remarks behind me. The tune now flowing from my instrument at the bidding of my fingertips is a tune commonly used in weddings; mayhap thus his comment originated. A moment later I feel the warmth that always radiates from him on my back and I lean my head back against his chest, though I continue to play.

"I would do so if your mother would permit for the necessary adjustments to the usual order of the ceremony," I answer him with a mirthful glance up towards his face. "But of course, that would be too much of a deviation from tradition."

"Of course," Dmitri replies with a full measure of resentful irony. "Although it must be said that a better pianist for any worthwhile event cannot be found."

"You praise me far beyond what I deserve. I trust that someone suitable will be found to play for us."

"Indeed I praise you but too little, and for you, for our wedding, only the best should be had." His hands rest on my shoulders, massaging them lightly as a complement to his compliments.

"I know not how to be both bride and musician. Perhaps your father could procure Their Royal Majesties' Orchestra for this momentous event? Surely they outshine my skills."

"That remains to be seen, but it is my understanding that they have been hired to prove themselves two days hence. All has been taken care of. Mother says that today our guests should begin arriving, and that final fittings for our attire will also be today. A banquet may even be our occupation of the evening, depending on how many guests actually arrive by evening."

"Perhaps we shall also have a reprieve from training for the remainder of the day? Or is that too optimistic of me?"

"Not too optimistic, but you may prefer training to what fate has actually sent your way," Malina interrupts, entering the room with an air that suggests that much is amiss elsewhere in the mansion. "You will be pleased to know that Lady Berkeley has suffered a sort of nervous breakdown brought on by the strain of wedding preparations and her own neuroticism. As such, your presence is required in the entry hall to receive guests until such time as Lord and Lady Berkeley determine that you may be otherwise engaged."